When a chap acquires a castle, complete with moat, ramparts, battlements,
towers, mullions, gargoyles and the biggest pigeon loft in the Dordogne, is
it any surprise if he comes across as a tad seigneurial, albeit with a
rock’n’roll twist?
“At our workshops, we used to say that if you write a song that goes to No 1,
we’ll knight you,” explains Miles Copeland III, the American music
impresario who owns Château Marouatte. So, hanging from the beamed ceiling
in the ballroom are silk pennants honouring “Lady” Carole King, “Sir” Mark
Hudson (record producer and vocal coach on The X Factor) and “Sir” Greg
Wells, a Canadian songwriter, who co-wrote the Céline Dion hit The Reason
during their stay there.
Copeland, 63, is a music-industry veteran, whose most famous protégés were the
Police – featuring his younger brother, Stewart, on drums. In the 1990s, he
turned the fairy-tale castle, seven miles from Brantôme, in southwest
France, into a hit factory. Here, promising unknowns and industry “names”
could strike creative sparks off each other. Cher, Jon Bon Jovi and Keith
Urban have stayed here, as has Ted Nugent, whose hunting bow and arrows hang
on a wall.
Most of Château Marouatte dates from the 14th century, although the oldest
wing was built in 1290. Copeland discovered it in 1991, while visiting his
Argentinian wife, Adriana, 46, who was on a sculpture course in Nantes. To
“kill time”, he dropped in on a few estate agents, and idle curiosity turned
into an obsessive quest for a castle. Although not short of funds – he went
on to sell IRS, his successful record label, to EMI – Copeland decided that
the Loire valley was too expensive, and instead turned to the Dordogne, a
couple of hundred miles further south. Seduced by Château Marouatte, with
its 240 acres of woodland and gardens, numerous outbuildings – and modern
plumbing – he paid about £1m for it.
The two main wings of the chateau had been refurbished in the 1970s by the
property tycoon Maxwell Joseph, to a standard fit for the Queen Mother and
Edward Heath, who stayed there (though not at the same time). “What was
attractive was that we could buy basic furniture and live here. So I bought
the place, then panicked,” says Copeland, who lives in Los Angeles with
Adriana and their three sons, Miles IV, 16, Aeson, 12, and Axton, 9, but
visits regularly. “I had to validate it. I hit on the idea of songwriting
retreats, and quickly organised the first one, for about 10 musicians,
mainly Brits, including Chris Difford of Squeeze.”
The idea grew. “We converted the outbuildings and added rooms to expand to 25
songwriters. We did deals with companies who gave us equipment, and we
installed a recording studio.” The synergy between country musicians, heavy
rockers, household names and aspiring talent has produced hits such as Aaron
Tippin’s country No 1, That’s as Close as I’ll Get to Loving You.
Urban, now a multimillionaire and married to Nicole Kidman, was virtually
unknown when he wrote But for the Grace of God, with Charlotte Caffey of the
Go-Go’s, at the chateau. Cher would hold court on a four-poster bed in the
garden tower, urging fellow musicians to reveal their first sexual
experiences.
What about Sting? “Sting has this tea he drinks, from Brazil – it’s supposed
to be very spiritual. He said, ‘You drink the tea, I’ll come.’ ” Copeland
could not bring himself to swallow the Amazonian cuppa, but the singer, whom
he also managed as a solo artist, did come and stay the night once – an
occasion that is, apparently, still talked about in the village.
Despite the work that had already been done, the renovation and furnishing of
the two wings (with eight bedrooms), two towers, which have two bedrooms
each, and outbuildings is never-ending. I don’t know what Copeland did for
retail therapy before buying the castle, but the architectural-salvage
industry has been a beneficiary of his credit card ever since.
As we wander through the salle d’honneur on the first floor of one of the
keeps – the central stronghold beyond the now-drained moat – he explains his
approach to castle decoration: “I go gothic. I like the look, but I’m not
precious whether it’s from 1300 or 1400. I like Pugin revival pieces – old,
but not as old as the castle. I think we have about a million dollars’ worth
of furniture and fixtures here. But we’re fairly frugal. I’ll design a room
and put up wall-paper myself.”
A huge stone fireplace sits at one end of the room; at the other is a
12ft-high wooden sideboard, in a rich shade of gravy, carved with figures of
knights and musicians. It came from an auction house in Los Angeles, where
the market for gothic gewgaws became seriously overheated for a while after
Cher returned from Marouatte fired with enthusiasm.
A carved reredos hangs among suits of armour and holy statues. Ecclesiastical
salvage is a vital component throughout, much of it acquired from an
antiques shop on Portobello Road, west London. “The late Eddie Phillips
knocked down more than 200 churches,” Copeland says, “and I’ve got bits of
all of them.”
As we wander from room to room and tower to tower, up and down stone
staircases, the effect of the exuberant styling – tapestries, tiles,
decorative paint effects, coats of arms – is impressive. But the chateau
does feel lived in, even though the family use it only as a holiday home
these days. There’s a big television and a full-size billiards table in the
games room, which has a touch of Hogwarts about it.
Outside, we check out the swimming pool, hidden in a lush garden, and use one
of Copeland’s golf buggies to travel the long, forested track to the tennis
court. The stables have been converted into gothed-up cottages. Here we find
Copeland’s British mother, Lorraine, an archeologist and widow of his
father, Miles Copeland II, who was a CIA operative in the Middle East.
“Do you know why my son built the tennis court so far from the chateau?” she
asks. “So he could make medieval films here with no modern features in
shot.” No films have yet been made, but if they ever are, they should
include a scene inside the pigeonnier, a huge circular stone structure with
a conical roof. Inside, light filters through gaps in the eaves, created so
the birds could enter and roost in the 3,000 niches set into the walls.
“Only seigneurs [noblemen] were allowed to have them,” Copeland says. “The
droppings fertilised the vineyard.”
The family fits in visits around the weddings and vacation rentals that bring
in income. It is available from £3,250 a week for the chateau itself, which
reflects the fact that it’s not all state-of-the-art bathrooms and designer
infinity pools.
The lettings business came about when the combination of 9/11 and digital-led
convulsions in the music industry put paid to the songwriting workshops.
Copeland plans to resume them next year. He’ll still invite the British and
American A list, but will also involve many of the Arabic musicians, such as
Hakim and Tania Saleh, both from Lebanon, with whom he has been working for
the past few years. Then there are his Bellydance Superstars – the
Riverdance of Middle Eastern after-dinner entertainment – who will be coming
for a week with their drummer to a workshop. Another barn will be converted
into their studio.
Copeland is looking forward to the sound of music rocking the thick stone
walls again, after his research into the history of the region revealed a
centuries-old musical heritage. “Four of the top 10 songwriters of the
Middle Ages came from near here,” he says. “This castle was almost central
to the land of the troubadours.”
Perhaps it will be where the superstars of tomorrow find their voice.
For more information about Château Marouatte, call 0151 342 8482 or visit www.chateaumarouatte.co.uk
Dordogne dreams
This fabulous 13th-century chateau near Thiviers, north of Périgueux, is set
in 150 acres, with a river running through. Three gîtesand a swimming
complex are included. The property is licensed as a chambre d’hôte. For
sale for £1.86m with Sifex; 020 7384 1200, www.sifex.co.uk
Coste Perrier Manor, dating from the 14th century, overlooks the Vézère
valley. Recently renovated, the property has 12 bedrooms and five reception
rooms. For sale for £1.7m with French Property Match; 00 31 35 543 2310, www.primelocation.com
This historic manor house, on 80 acres of land in the Périgord, has seven
bedrooms, a magnificent reception room, a guest flat and a swimming pool. It
is 20 minutes’ drive to Sarlat, 30 to Bergerac airport. For sale for £1.9m
with Emile Garcin; 020 7590 3130, www.emilegarcin.com
A 25-minute drive from Sarlat, this two-storey, five-bedroom property is the
central part of a 14th-century chateau. One of its two reception rooms has a
vaulted ceiling and a fireplace. The second floor needs work. For sale for
£331,000 with Sifex; 020 7384 1200, www.sifex.co.uk
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